{Earth}

“My Pablo died, Lynn. Let me have him back.”

The Shadow Lynn faced off with her last copy. The gore of the many she ripped through coated her skin and clothes. Slick, but tacky as it dried. No time to spare for her nails. Think of that later.

In the low-lit basement, calling this battle confusing was an understatement. The Shadow identified one another by their spent chains. Often Lynn, Caedes, John, and Smith switched targets to reduce mental fatigue. Fighting herself fucked with her head. Never mind the hands tearing through bone trauma.

Just one more.

Rayne’s blood wouldn’t last forever, but it would hold out until she finished with this one. But first, Shadow Lynn wanted to ask one important question. “How did your Pablo die?”

Tears filled Imminent Lynn’s eyes. “You don’t understand my world. You don’t know what choices brought me here.”

She ground out, “How. Did. He. Die?”

“He discovered me. Gave me an ultimatum to turn myself into the Shadow. Or lose him with a head start.”

“You killed Pablo?” How? How could she ever justify those decisions to herself, let alone to another Lynn?

Through sobs, the copy screamed, “He gave me no choice!”

Lynn grabbed the other woman’s arms and head-butted her. Bone cracked. Again. Wet split. Again.

The fake Lynn shrieked through it. She shrieked even more when the real Lynn dug her thumbs into her eyes. All the way in with a viscous pop. Rode her down as she fell to her knees. But she wasn’t done.

Shadow Lynn hated the Imminent copy’s words. Hated that her voice still made any sound. She squeezed both hands around her throat. The trachea collapsed. Vocal cords crushed. So strong was Lynn that she reduced the other woman’s neck to mushy ruin in her fists.

Her own face screamed in agony at her all the while. Those wide brown eyes were hers. Those bared teeth the same. She would never forget the sight of it.

“Lynn. Lynn, stop screaming.”

Someone touched her.

She whirled on them, prepared to rip another of her faces apart—

“Lynn. It’s Smith. We did it. We killed them all.” He reached out with an unaffected smile. “Let’s go save the mister.”

Yes. Save Pablo. And tell him herself that she broke their vows. Spend a few hours, days, weeks, begging his forgiveness in all his favorite ways.

Caedes made to clean off his knives. But on what? Blood and bits covered his entire body. “We should reload the guns and take them with us.”

“Good idea, big guy.” With a heart matted to John’s hand, he patted the bald man’s shoulder. Squelchy.

Lynn pointed at Devis on the floor. “He needs someone to carry him.”

The grumbling beside her was a volunteering noise and a “duh” all in one. Caedes was most effective at communicating without full-on words.

Five minutes later, they opened into the Arsenal proper. Completely empty. Unguarded. She chewed her lip before confessing, “I don’t like leaving this place unprotected.”

Smith stopped. “I agree. I’ll stay. You check in with the Ecology. I’ll keep the comms on for updates.”

The Chief nodded at her coworker. “Thanks. Keep it safe.” She gazed around the several story lobby. All her work on the verge of abandonment. After committing the first two years of her marriage to this place, it broke her heart how fast it fell apart. “So much for galactic security technology.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Smith chuckled before laughing so hard he hugged his ribs. “No, shit, Chief. But you were spectacular at the job.”

“So were you.”

Both John and Caedes exchanged a left-out look. The smaller of the two carried a load of rifles. The bigger one lugged a load of First Wave Progeny.

Time to go.

Lynn hugged Smith before they made their way to the lift. The cylindrical entrance’s nacre-detecting system proved painfully useless against copies bearing the same nacres and a detainee revolt from within. Damn Imminent.

Blood-curdling screams welcomed them through the conduit.

John called out, “Here we go again!” And distributed the weapons.

Caedes put Devis down and took a gun. “John, guard him. Don’t let anyone near him or the rifles unless they’re wearing one of these.” He tapped the spent chain.

“Right.”

Lynn took a gun, and the two rushed across the cliffs only a few yards before encountering the battlefield. Caedes growled. “Elden save us.”

The remaining impostors collected themselves into mixed squadrons and attacked with strategy and cunning. In the bloody fray, it was near impossible to tell the copies and the Shadow apart. The only face she didn’t see was Jack. Lynn hoped he got away.

Caedes fired a disabling charge at a Twenty-One fake within fifteen-feet. It made sense to start with the biggest guy.

Lynn followed his lead. Her first one fell forward like a redwood. She checked, and after finding no chain, impaled the fucker through the heart.

The first non-copy they found was Lucas. He took out a fake Pablo with a robust uppercut that took the guy’s face off. They never gave the golden-eyed Icarus a chain, so he identified himself with a fist to his chest. Lynn tossed him an extra rifle, and they went back to work.

Between the escaped Icari and the Imminent figures, there were too many. A Bones and Twenty-One pairing clashed in the sky above. One must be Shadow. “Caedes?”

“Got it.” The gruff Icarus ascended and sided with Bones after a few blows.

“Lynn! Thank, god! Lynn!”

In the span of a breath, she aimed her rifle in Pablo’s direction. He staggered toward her with his hands up and a knife in his thigh. “Help me.”

Her worst nightmare since she killed her first fake Lynn. What could she do? Examine the situation. His wound bled too much for someone who took Rayne’s blood. But it was possible—unlikely, but possible—he’d yet to take it. With no chain in sight, there was one other way. “Show me our vows.”

The bastard smiled a truly sinister grin.

Lynn squeezed the nacre disabler trigger. Nothing happened. It was empty—

“Ugh!” Someone grabbed her from behind, and she shut her eyes. All the Pablos smelled alike. The copy at her back sneered at her. The other one tore the knife from his thigh and ran at her. Against her ear, Pablo whispered, “Never endanger this. Never risk yourself without me. Never leave without coming back.”

Lynn’s heart wanted to stop from the shock, but there wasn’t enough time. Her real husband braced her while she kicked the fake one with both feet. They went clear through him. She whirled on real Pablo.

Breathless, he begged, “I’m so sorry, baby. I needed the cover to rest for a… minute…” He sank to the bloody dirt on all fours.

“No! Pablo, are you injured?” Lynn knelt to check on him. So much blood. She palpated him all over. “I can’t find a wound—Oh, god.”

Her finger almost went inside his abdomen. Someone opened a mouth across his stomach, just shy of letting his insides out. And it wasn’t healing.

He groaned in pain and spoke to the dirt. “Pressure. On the wound.”

Without question, Lynn slipped out of her blood-soaked t-shirt. “Lay out. Like that. I have you. Pablo, tell me you still have Rayne’s blood?”

Pablo shook his head and her core all at once. It wore off. “So glad… to see you.”

“Don’t talk like that—”

“Regroup!” Caedes shouted from steps away. Lucas, Twenty-One, Caedes, and Bones formed a box around them.

Lucas asked over his shoulder, “How is he?” The bloody socket of his right eye dripped with blue ruin.

Lynn choked the words out, “Really not good.”

“We won’t be doing much better in a few minutes,” Bones shouted and snarled at the press of Imminent copies. He wrapped a tourniquet around his thigh, and his black hair matted the back of his head with oozing blood.

Twenty-One wicked the blood off a sword he got from Elden knew where. Bone protruded from his right arm and wrist. “I’m honored to have served our worlds with such excellent warriors. I will defend Dr. Suarez shoulder to shoulder among the best. And we will not fall this day.”

Tears fell. More tears? How was Lynn not out? This would not end well for them—

Bright white, painful light encapsulated the cliffs. Expanded to the horizon. Blinded them in a wash of agony. They screamed. The copies, too. So loud and so futile. Maybe one minute passed in Inanis, but it seared for what felt like hours.

Her Pablo didn’t make a sound.

The light retreated faster than the last instance. Fast enough, Lynn’s ears popped from its roaring absence. Blink once. Twice. She wiped the tears away and opened her eyes once her soft tissue repair system caught up to the damage. It was safe to say Rayne’s blood wore off for her, too.

“Pablo. Baby, talk to me.” He wasn’t moving. Lynn checked his pulse. It beat surprisingly strong against her fingers. “I think he’s stabilizing—”

“Lynn.”

Lucas sounded so calm that the sudden change in tone alarmed her. She looked up and gaped.

All the copies vanished, leaving only Icarean bodies behind.

Bones and Twenty-One took a step away from the unit, scanning the horizon. “Inanis claimed them. But why would Razor do that?”

A conduit opened in the sky. Then another. And another. The sky. The cliffs. The beach.

“Sagan.” The renewed strength in Pablo’s voice warmed Lynn more than the revelation that the Seamswalker was alive.